Search All 1 Records in Our Collections

Welcome to the new Collections Search. You can still use the previous version of the site at this link.

The Museum’s Collections document the fate of Holocaust victims, survivors, rescuers, liberators, and others through artifacts, documents, photos, films, books, personal stories, and more. Search below to view digital records and find material that you can access at our library and at the Shapell Center.

Margot Schwarzschild Wicki papers

The Margot Schwarzschild Wicki papers contain documents and photographs relating to her family’s stay at the Gurs and Rivesaltes camps, and their eventual rescue by the Swiss Red Cross. These documents are primarily identification papers, including certificates of internment, baptism and vaccination documents, and identity cards. The material from the Schwarzschild’s time with the Swiss Red Cross includes invitations to join, correspondence, and a bound hand-book given by the children to the Elsa Ruth. The post-war documents include return visits that Margot made to Gurs, and an anniversary ceremony in Kaiserslautern, her birthplace. Also included are various photographs of the Schwarzschild family and Kaiserslautern.

Margot Schwarzschild was born on November 20, 1931, in Kaiserslautern, Germany, to a Jewish father, Richard, born on December 12, 1898, in Kaiserslautern, and a Catholic mother, Aloisia (Luisi) Keim. She had an older sister, Hannelore, born on March 21, 1929. They lived a comfortable middle class life. In 1938, the sisters were no longer allowed to attend their public school because they were Jewish. During the Kristallnacht pogrom that November 8-9, her father was arrested and sent to Dachau concentration camp, though eventually he was released.On October 22, 1940, the Gestapo came to the home and told the family that they could each pack one suitcase; they were being deported. The family, which also included her eighty year old paternal grandmother, Settchen Schwarzschild, was sent to Gurs internment camp in France. The family was separated, as men were housed apart from the women and children. The barracks were overcrowded and infested with vermin, and Margot remembers always being hungry. When some teenagers were caught smuggling food into the camp, her father was accused of being involved and sent to prison in Pau. He was released in March 1941 and the family was sent to Rivesaltes camp near Perpignan. In November, relief workers with the Red Cross affiliated Secours Suisse aux Enfants [Swiss Aid to Children] arranged to have the girls sent to the Pringy children’s home, but they had to return to Rivesaltes that summer. Following the Wannsee Conference in January 1942, the camps began the systematic deportation of Jews from France. On September 4, 1942, Margot’s father was deported on convoy 29 to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Their grandmother was sent to Noe internment camp near Toulouse. Margot, Hannelore, and Luisi were to be deported as well. But Luisi had packed the family photograph album in her suitcase and she was able to use the photograph of her Catholic communion ceremony to prove to the camp authorities that she was not Jewish. One of the nurses with Secours Suisse, Friedel Reiter (later Bohny-Reiter) was able to get the girls and their mother released. The girls were sent back to the children’s home in Pringy and their mother was given a job at a nearby Secours Suisse home in Cruseilles. Margot and Hannelore joined her there the following year. Their grandmother was transferred to La Guiche, a sanatorium/concentration camp and died soon after her arrival on March 7, 1944.After the end of the war in May 1945, Luisi and her daughters moved to Switzerland. She and her husband had selected the Secours Suisse office in Bern as their rendezvous point before his deportation. It became clear that he was not coming to meet them and they later learned that he had been killed at Auschwitz. On October 22, 1946, they returned to Kaiserslautern. The sisters finished their schooling: Margot became an interpreter and Hannelore, a kindergarten teacher. In 1952, Hannelore married Franz Wicki. In 1956, Margot married his brother, Josef, and they settled in his native Switzerland.

Record last modified: 2018-04-02 13:48:22
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn518758

Also in Margot Schwarzschild Wicki collection

The collection consists of artwork, documents, a notebook, photographs, and postcards relating to the experiences of Margo Schwarzschild and her family during their imprisonment in Gurs and Rivesaltes internment camps and her stay in the OSE Pringy children's home in France during the Holocaust, as well their life in the postwar period.

Sepia ink etched print of a melancholy young boy created by Friedel Bohny-Reiter circa 1989. It is based upon memories of the Rivesaltes internment camp in France where she worked from 1941-1942 as a nurse for Secours Suisse aux Enfants [Swiss Aid to Children]. She gave the drawing to Margot Schwarzschild Wicki who as a 10 year old child was interned in the camp. In 1940, Margot, her parents, Richard and Luisi, and Hannelore, 11, were deported to Gurs prison camp from Kaiserlautern, Germany. They were transferred to Rivesaltes and, in 1942, placed on a list of Jews to be deported to concentration camps in Poland. Friedel helped get them released. Luisi had saved a photo of her Catholic communion and she used it to prove that she was not Jewish. Men and women were housed apart and Richard was deported on September 4 to Auschwitz and killed. Later that month, Friedel had Margot and her sister placed in a children’s home in Pringy and found a job for Luisi in another Secours Suisse home. After the war ended in May 1945, Luisi and her daughters moved to Switzerland. Friedel and her husband, Alfred Bohny, were honored as Righteous among Nations by Yad Vashem for their work in rescuing hundreds of mostly Jewish children from deportation to concentration camps.

Pencil and ink sketch of a young boy with large, dark, despairing eyes created by Friedel Bohny-Reiter in 1989. It is labelled draft and resembles her etching, 2006.464.2. It is based upon memories of the Rivesaltes internment camp in France where she worked from 1941-1942 as a nurse for Secours Suisse aux Enfants [Swiss Aid to Children]. She gave the drawing to Margot Schwarzschild Wicki who as a 10 year old child was interned in the camp. In 1940, Margot, her parents, Richard and Luisi,and 11 year old Hannelore, were deported to Gurs prison camp from Kaiserlautern, Germany. They were transferred to Rivesaltes and, in 1942, placed on a list of Jews to be deported to concentration camps in Poland. Friedel helped get them released. Luisi had saved a photo of her Catholic communion and she used it to prove that she was not Jewish. Men and women were housed separately and Richard was deported on September 4. Later that month, Friedel had Margot and her sister placed in a children’s home in Pringy and found a job for Luisi in another Secours Suisse home. After the war ended in May 1945, Luisi and the sisters moved to Switzerland. They learned that Richard had been killed in Auschwitz. Friedel and her husband, Alfred Bohny, were honored as Righteous among Nations by Yad Vashem for their work in rescuing hundreds of mostly Jewish children from deportation to concentration camps during the Holocaust.

Red Conte crayon sketch created by Friedel Bohny-Reiter in 1989. It depicts a partial view of four females of varying age, with their heads wrapped in scarves, standing close together. It is based upon memories of the Rivesaltes internment camp in France where she worked from 1941-1942 as a nurse for Secours Suisse aux Enfants [Swiss Aid to Children]. She gave the drawing to Margot Schwarzschild Wicki who as a 10 year old child was interned in the camp. In 1940, Margot, her parents, Richard and Luisi,and 11 year old Hannelore, were deported to Gurs prison camp from Kaiserlautern, Germany. They were transferred to Rivesaltes and, in 1942, placed on a list of Jews to be deported to concentration camps in Poland. Friedel helped get them released. Luisi had saved a photo of her Catholic communion and she used it to prove that she was not Jewish. Men and women were housed separately and Richard was deported on September 4. Later that month, Friedel had Margot and her sister placed in a children’s home in Pringy and found a job for Luisi in another Secours Suisse home. After the war ended in May 1945, Luisi and the sisters moved to Switzerland. They learned that Richard had been killed in Auschwitz. Friedel and her husband, Alfred Bohny, were honored as Righteous among Nations by Yad Vashem for their work in rescuing hundreds of mostly Jewish children from deportation to concentration camps during the Holocaust.

Learn about over 1,000 camps and ghettos in Volume I and II of this encyclopedia, which are available as a free PDF download. This reference provides text, photographs, charts, maps, and extensive indexes.